Beacons also have utility in the realm of city governance. Together with an official NYC app, a City-wide beacon infrastructure, would allow the de Blasio administration to forge new channels of engagement with its constituents, as well as stretch public resources by replacing tasks or functions that previously had to be performed manually. Beacons could provide many opportunities for creating greater efficiencies and transparencies in government. Highly accurate geolocation technology could greatly improve the intelligence and efficacy of the City’s 311 platform, both for users as well as for the Mayor’s Office. Beacon-afforded, location-sensitive messaging could also replace confusing street signs governing parking, street-closures for filming, alerts for street-cleaning, and refuse dumping, just for example. Beacons could also bring greater transparency to those infamous Privately-Owned-Public-Spaces, made famous by Occupy Wall Street, by providing visitors with information about opening hours and rules. Beacon infrastructure could also facilitate the City’s deployment of context-appropriate…

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It’s been over a week since Apple’s high-profile WWDC. In the days leading up to the event, many speculated this would be the year of the iBeacon. After the technology’s surreptitious introduction at last year’s conference, developers and members of the press expected the technology to feature squarely in Apple’s plans for the coming year. Read Article